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“Lady Arya you can’t it is forbidden and dangerous.”
Arya looked at the serving girl, she was taken as slave when she was only ten, now she must be around eight and ten years old. She always told Arya stories of her people, the Germanic folk, that live across the river, Rhenus. “But you told me about how it looks like and the people, now I want to see it for myself.”
“Please lady Arya your father will have my head.” The poor slave girl looked down to her feet, full of anxiety, but that wouldn’t temper Arya’s lust for adventure.
“You can come with me.”
The girls eyes shot up, feel unbelief and maybe a bit of hope, but Arya didn’t know for sure. “I can’t they would accuse me of taking you.”
Arya laughed, “No one can take me and my father knows that.”
“But the Romans don’t.” The slave girl actually wasn’t allowed to speak against her, but Arya liked it. Still it would be hard to convince her. She actually needed her with her, she could arrange Germanic clothes and teach her more of the habits and culture. She already learnt the language from the slave girl, she knew that if her father heard from it he would kill the slave. Arya already was allowed more than normal Roman women, her father allowed her to train in combat with her brothers when she was younger. But now she had to be an obedient girl and she would marry within the year. She would never want such a life and thus crossing the river seems like a good idea, to sate her need for adventure. Nothing would be more adventurous than crossing the Rhenus and see how the Germanics or better known under the Romans as savages, live. From the stories of the slave they didn’t sound like savages, Arya was intrigued by their culture and freedom. She longed for that freedom.
“I will write a note. And you know they will never cross the river.”
The girl looked full of doubt, Arya now saw the longing in the girls eyes. “For our freedom.” Arya knew it wasn’t fair to say. The girl had no freedom at all know, Arya just didn’t want to marry. But was it not the same in the end? Arya would become the man’s property.
That is how Arya convinced the girl to come with her or mostly guide her, over the river into the enemy’s land. If they would get caught before they crossed the river, the slave would be dead. But what was a life as a slave when you have the chance to live in freedom again. Arya would have tried already if she was in the girls place. But that also wasn’t fair of her to think.
It was a moonless night and the stars were covered by the clouds. This was perfect for Arya, she only hoped that it wouldn’t rain, the River would get to deep and the cross would be extreme risky. She quietly woke up the slave girl and she managed to get two horses out of the stable, without waking the stable boy.
The girl was a great rider, she didn’t even seem to need the saddle and she hasn’t seen her ridden a horse before. In this moment Arya still rode up front, she knew where the guards were stated, she had already observed them for the past weeks. The horses were dark and they moved like shadows through the dark. The moment that her horse stepped into the water she tensed, the water rippled and the sound seemed deafening. Then she saw from the corner of her eye that a shadow went past her. The girl trotted beside her and she could feel the anxiousness in the air. The horses just climbed the riverbank of the other forbidden side, when she heard sounds from the Roman encampment. Within the walls of the fort they had probably found out that she went missing. Someone might has even found her note, she had written many of them and one was laying in her bedchamber.
She turned around one time, looking at the campfires and hearing the sounds of laughter, men joking, talking and now also the shouting. She would leave her life at Trajectum behind. She heard the girl making a noise at her, she was already in the tree line. She spurred on her horse and followed the girl, who already disappeared between the trees. She only glimpsed a shadow in front of her. The woods were dark and she got a feeling of doubt. Every time she heard a sound of an animal, she wanted to look up, but she needed to look forward to follow the Germanic girl. The horse just followed the other horse and she hung low on its neck, because some branches were low, these paths were different from the organized straight roads that the Romans made. She didn’t even knew if this was a path. She was almost too late to notice that the shadow in front of her had stopped.
The girl had turned around and only know did Arya see the confident girl that was all the time under the obedience. Her voice also seemed different, but she still talked hushed. “You can still go back now, My lady. I have told you about our living habits, it will be a shock for you. They might even keep you as liten. I will vouch for you, that you brought me back, but we are a suspicious folk.”
“I take that chance. You have taught me all about your people.” She spoke in the Germanic language that she learned from the girl. “What is your name actually?” She felt quite bad that she never really asked her that, she had called her girl, you and she and the other soldiers had called her slave, savage or more bawdy names.
“Ava.” She gave her a smirk, one that she had never seen before. “That was my last warning, My Lady. And watch out, there are eyes on us.” With that she turned her horse around and started in a gallop again. Arya was still thinking about her words while she spurred on her horse, to get close to Ava again.
There are eyes on us there are eyes on us. She had never thought about the idea that they had watchers, but off course. She wondered where they were, what their weapons are. There are eyes on us. She was glad that they wore Germanic clothing, with Roman clothes they would have been attacked already for sure. The ground here went up and down and dawn came and the shadows turned into dusk. The horses were now walking and the path became a bit broader, so she stirred her horse next to Ava. They didn’t talk, it was quiet except for the sounds of birds. It was so peaceful and beautiful, with the mist and the sun that just started to shine through the trees. She heard sounds of creatures moving through the trees and before she knew it they arrived at a clearing where she was greeted by a group Germanic folk, armed by spears, swords and archers.
Ava greeted them, “Dagaz,” and they repeated the greeting and after that she gave the story. She pointed to Arya sometimes. She understood words of the conversation, but these sentences went faster and she couldn’t make out all of it.
Before she knew it they were surrounded by men and they started to walk further up the hill. She walked her horse next to Ava and was looking around. This is what she had talked about, but now she knew how Ava must have felt. As an outsider. The men looked different from the Romans, they had mostly blond or grey hair, there were just a few red heads, but it was different from the auburn color of her sister. She really stood out with her dark hair, but her pale complexion was just like them. Romans most of the time had a more olive colored skin, maybe she just didn’t fit in anywhere.
They neared a village, or what Ava had explained her what a Germanic village looked like. Long sheds with a wooden frame and covered fully with reeds. She saw animals walking around, sheep, cows, pigs and chickens. She heard the sound of people. There were no stones here, no sewers or bathhouses. This was just an encampment compared to Trajectum.
She heard shouts and soon people came out of their sheds and from their work. She saw women, some with baby’s in their arms, dirt on their faces, in their hairs and the suspicious looks. Men looked at her with different looks, some look curious, angry an some with a grin that gave a chill through Arya’s spine.
A man walked through the crowd, he was big, with brought shoulders and a blond wiry beard. She noticed immediately the authority around him, like her father had, she knew he must be the chief. One of the men that had lead them there started talking and then the eyes of the big men widened.
Ava jumped of her horse and hugged the big man before Arya could follow what happened. One of the younger men that was seated on a horse next to her started to talk to her in broken latin, “He her father. He gave up her.” Then he and the others stepped of their horse, the man who hold her brittle signed for her to dismount to and so she followed their lead.
Ava signed for her to follow and they went to the biggest shed, people were sitting around a fire and she kept close to Ava. She brought back an important person, she didn’t even know if Ava had important family yes or no. She hadn’t told that her father was the chief, like her father was in Trajectum. She was more like Arya, then Arya could have ever imagined.
The men started a discussion, she saw looks thrown her way and Ava was also talking to the people. The language sounded harsh, but beautiful and passionate at the same time. These people were raw and rough. She recognized words, but it was hard to understand it. Eventually the voices died down and the chief talked to her in Germanic, but at a slow pace so she would understand it. “I thank you for bringing my daughter back. She tells me you wanted to stay here.” Arya just nodded. The men started to laugh and chuckle around them, but the chief manned them to silence again. “We will not treat you like a lady here. You need to work and change to our ways.” He raised his flagon, “tonight we feast.” He boomed and a roar came up from the men around her. People started to get up and busied themselves with preparing for the feast.
Ava pulled her to come with her and it was as if their roles were reversed. It was nice to hear the sweet sound of Latin again. “I will show you a place you can sleep. You need to share the shed with other people and animals, people here don’t have private chambers.”
“What is that?” Arya asked when she saw a small altar made of stones, candles were burning and she saw someone offering something in the pot.”
“An altar for Wodan.”
“Who?”
“Our Jupiter.” She explained and Arya nodded. She had heard a bit about it, but they never really discussed the Germanic Gods. She thought it would be like her Gods, they probably were.
There were four women around her age sleeping near her, Ava was one of them. One of them was taller than she was, lean and had thick wild red hair. Arya could see tangles and twigs in her hair, she smiled and welcomed her in Latin which surprised Arya, her name was Ygritte and she was a huntress. The other girl was a bit more quite and had a sweet smile, she plucked berries, took care of the animals and children and cooked like the most women in the village. Her name was Lieve and Ava explained that the name meant sweet, which suited the girl. She didn’t speak Latin. But together with the three girls Arya’s Germanic improved over the weeks. She sometimes went hunting with Ygritte and some other women, but mostly men. They didn’t let her to much though. They didn’t trust her, so they didn’t like to give her a weapon, but she shot a deer clear in the eye with a bit of luck. She at least earned their respect with that shot.
She was mostly left in the village though. Lieve guided her in Germanic and sometimes pointed to things and told the Germanic word, Arya learned the language much quicker now she needed to speak the language.
Ava was mostly with her father and the other important men of the village and sometimes of other villages. Arya soon learned that there were neighboring villages all around and the chiefs did have meetings all the time, sometimes about marriages between villages or the situation with the Romans or other tribes. They were part of the Franken, Arya knew most about them, because some still lived in the Roman empire. In the West were the Friesians and in the East the Saxony. There were wars between them, Arya didn’t really understood that. Within the Roman empire was one leader, but here each village had a leader, which meant wars and fights. She one time had commented on that and offered her critics on their way, because the Roman empire was stable and their leader was the emperor. But she got rebuked. “Did you ever had a talk with your precious emperor? Does he know about the needs of your city, has he been to your city? Did he talk with your people?”
Arya was mocked and she could only shake her head and feel ashamed of attacking their culture.
“Our village has a leader, he talks with his people and we can express our concerns and needs. He cares about us and knows us all by name. When he goes to a get together with the other chiefs he will know what the village need and they all will express what each village is in need of. So please if you don’t like our ways, go back to your Roman fort.”
Arya shook no and she never commented on anything else in a negative way. She observed and analyzed how their way of living was different, but when she thought that the Roman way was better she didn’t express it.
She really had to get used to the working. She never had to in Trajectum, not like this at least. She was washing some clothes and rubbed them on a washboard and hung them out after that. She was sitting outside and looked to the different people that walked by.
One man in particular caught her eye, he stood out with his black hair. She furrowed her brow, she had only seen blond and red haired people, no one with black hair. He was carrying two buckets of water and was walking towards the edge of the village, to a shed she never has been to before. Some children were running around, were laughing and shouting to the stranger. Arya finally understood what they were saying, “Roman.” They called him Roman as insult. She threw a questioning look to Lieve next to her.
“Go back to work,” and Arya started with scrubbing the clothes when Lieve explained in slow German so she understood. “His mother didn’t come from this village, but a village below the Rhenus. The Romans attacked it and she got raped, but she survived and found a way to escape over the river. As many others could not. She came here, pregnant and starved. We took her in and by wonder she survived the birth and the baby did to. But she died of a fever only four years later. The healer took him in her care, she lives in a small shed apart from the others, because people are weary of her. But he was strong and when a smith traveled through he wanted to learn the trade. He was traveling for a while, but everyone can see that he is not Germanic and people don’t like outsiders, don’t trust them. He came back and now he smiths for us.”
Arya just nodded, the man was gone from sight already, but she was still thinking about it. He was born here and still people saw him as an outsider because of his heritage. She was the real outsider and she wondered how long it will take before people would call names out to her. She also couldn’t believe that her father’s officers or fellow Roman leaders would allow rape to happen. She never heard of those stories, she heard of the glorious battles, not of the raping and what happened to the people that lived in those villages before.
It was a quart moon when she was walking towards the working place of the man. She guided her horse with her. Her irons were on her for too long. She needed to get her horse shoed again and a smith was the only way how, a Germanic smith was better than no smith at all.
It was a shed at the edge of the village, she saw smoke and knew that this must be the right place. Their buildings were mostly made of a wooden frame with reeds, expect from the altar she had seen before and now this building. This shed was made of clay and stones. It also had a round shape and was connected with another round shaped shed made of clay and stones. She couldn’t resist to touch it and while she walked by she grazed the wall, until she was at the doorway. She could feel the heat on her face and heard the sound of fire that was roaring.
She bounded her horse to a pole outside and walked into the heat. She now saw that there was a hole in the roof and she saw how some smoke disappeared through it. Because of this structure the room was not filled with smoke of the fire and it wasn’t too hot. Arya then saw the man standing over the anvil, working on something. He only wore breeches and had a leather apron knotted at the back of his neck and back, which showed his bare back. She looked at the way his muscled moved in his back and sweat dripping down, she bit her lip and blushed, which she blamed on the heat.
“Dagaz,” she called out and the man turned around. He gazed suspiciously at her. This was the first time she saw his bright blue eyes. She couldn’t look at them long, because the sound of steel pulled away her gaze. He picked up a spear, which laid perfect in his hand for throwing.
“You are not Germanic.” He stated and she just nodded, his voice was rough, not only because of the Germanic language which was rough, but just his deep voice. She wondered if he also would sound rough when speaking Latin, she never heard someone speaking Latin in a rough tone. “You are Roman.”
She might shouldn’t have said it, with him holding a spear and all, but she still did, “I have heard you are Roman too.”
It was definitely not the good thing to say, his fist clenched around the spear and she knew he was ready to throw it. “What are you doing here?”
“My horse needs to get a change of horseshoes and I have heard you’re a smith.”
“I mean what do you think you’re doing in the village. You have nothing to find her.”
So he did hear from her, then why was he threatening her with a spear. “I wanted something different. I wanted freedom.” She didn’t really understand why she felt the need to explain herself.
“You don’t belong here, you never will. You’ll be an outsider. Go back to your home.”
She shook her head, “I don’t want to. I like it here. And I have heard you are an outsider to while you have been born here.”
The spear made a jab to her and she raised an eyebrow at that. She really shouldn’t react like that if she wanted to live longer, but she couldn’t help it. “The people here don’t like you. We don’t want you here. You mean danger. You might even be a spy.” He shook the hair that was fallen into his eye out of his face. “They should have killed you when you arrived. They still should.”
“So you mean to kill me now?” She asked calmly.
He gave her an annoyed look, “Are you going to kill me? Are you bringing dead into the village?”
“No.”
He seemed to be thinking and he looked to be in pain doing so, she wanted to laugh at it, but she knew that her chance to survive this encounter would drop significantly. He made up his mind. “If I ever get the idea that you will be a danger or a spy, I will kill you, I promise you that. I will keep my eye on you.” She didn’t really minded.
“Okay that is a deal. Can we now discus the terms about the irons for my horse.”
He nodded sternly and put the spear away. He picked up a tool behind him, without turning his back to her. He signed to the door and she started to walk outside where her horse was grazing. She turned her back to him, just to make a point.
“What is your name actually?” She asked while he picked up the foot of her horse.
“Gendry,” She loved the sound of it. No Roman name at all and she smiled at that.
“I am Arya.” He didn’t seem to listen and after he got the iron of the horse he went to another foot. “But you probably knew that already.”
After he finished and four horseshoes laid on the ground, he wiped his hands and he looked at her. “No I didn’t know that.”
After that she just observed how he worked, he wasn’t really the talking type that was clear. He got a stool out of the smithy and this time he turned his back to her, which made her smile. He filed the hooves and he all but ignored her.
He took the horseshoes inside and she followed him. He started looking at the size of the old iron and he compared that to what he had to made. He started working and after he stoked the fires up. He then turned around, curiously. “This will take some time, don’t you have better things to do?” She shrugged her shoulders and he went back to work. Once he made the irons, cooled them and nailed them outside to the horses hooves, half of the day had passed by.
She almost wanted to leave, but he cleared his throat. She looked at him in question.
“My payment.”
“Payment?”
His eyes darkened, “You don’t think I did this for free? Iron costs money, I could have done other things with my time which could give me money.”
She bit her lip, she hadn’t thought about that, she worked to get food and a roof over her head, not for money. “I have Roman coins.”
He signed, “Really?” He looked incredulously at her. He huffed, but then turned to her, “I guess that has to do.”
“She went inside her bodice, where she had hidden her pouch. She saw how he followed her movements and started to blush furiously. His eyes now darted around, trying not to look where her hand goes, but they still went to her breast.
She smiled to herself and then took out two Roman coins. “Is this enough?” The coins were the Aes, made out of copper and were together around 20 grams.
He analyzed the coins and looked at the color and the imprint of the emperor on it. He followed the pattern with his nails. “This is detailed. Amazing work.” She just waited for him to approve. He looked back up and nodded.
Then she turned around to go back to the center of the village, “I’ll still will keep my eye on you.”
She smiled and turned around, “I don’t expect anything less.”
He seemed to blush again, but she couldn’t see it clear. He just nodded and went inside. She never had talked with any man like that, she had no idea where it came from. Maybe her new found freedom? She was not a Lady who stood above most men or who needed to courtesy for the leaders and officers. She was just Arya, maybe a Roman and outsider, but still Arya.
It was a few days later that they had a feast. “They do this to make the fields fertile” Ava explained and Arya looked at the huge fire that was burning on the fields. That day she had seen people analyzing the wind and she now saw why, the fire was raging away from the village. The wind stood from them. “The sky is grey and fog is all around us, so the smoke will be noticed not as fast, in case that there is an enemy in the area.”
“It is beautifull.” Arya was captivated by the fire, it was high and with the fog it gave an eerie sight. After half an hour it started to rain and the people cheered and they raised their hands to the sky.
“If the fire will not be put done it could cause a huge fire in the woods and the winds could have changed. But Wodan made sure that the fire died on time and in a moons turn we can start working the fields and grow our crops.”
In the center of a village a bonfire was made, music was all around with drums and flutes, the drinks were flowing. The drink was a bit more bitter than the wines she was used to, but Arya quite liked it. She saw how Lieve got pulled to her feet by a boy and started to dance and soon a lot of couples joined in. Ygritte picked her own man and Ava was dancing with a man from a neighboring village. Arya had the idea that it would be for an alliance, but Ava seemed to enjoy herself and Arya had the idea that she still had more freedom than Arya and the Roman ladies in general had.
“You’re enjoying yourself?” A rough voice asked behind her and she looked to where Gendry stood.
“Yes, still keeping an eye on me?”
“For sure.” He seated himself next to her and she wished that she could be more annoyed about it.
“You don’t dance?” She asked curiously, because almost everyone was dancing, singing and drinking.
“No I am not so good at dancing and My lady doesn’t want to dance?”
He called her a Lady in Latin, his voice was still rough, and she raised an eyebrow at that. It had been long since she was called a Lady. “Don’t call me a Lady.” She said while punching him. “And since when do you speak Latin?”
He answered in a heavy accented Latin, “I always could speak a bit Latin.” She loved his rough Latin, it sounded much better than the soft spoken boys from Trajectum. She laughed at him and then they started easy conversation.
From then on when she didn’t got any tasks and had some free time to spare, she went to Gendry’s place. People normally didn’t come there. So she could sit there in silence and watch Gendry work or have easy conversation. The moments that she was homesick she came to him. He never judged her when she talked with love about her life in Trajectum and her family, or ranted about the differences, like how she really wanted a good warm bath. She one time even cried and he tentatively put his arms around her and in that moment she cried harder. It had been so long since someone had hugged her, showed her some love and she buried her head in his chest.
It was a few moons later and the first harvest had been gathered and stocked. It had been a busy time of the year, which meant that she had to work a lot. She didn’t mind and the people looked with less mistrust at her and were a bit welcoming.
There was to be a big feast meal at night and the hunters were already gone for some days to get the big meat, everyone hoped for a good swine. She wished to go with them, but they didn’t trust her to be gone for such a long time. She could have a chance to speak with someone if she was a spy. This meant that she now was peeling potatoes and cutting vegetables with other women. Everyone was talking and gossiping and she was included.
“Lieve you and Storm are getting quite close not?” One of the older women asked and the sweet blonde blushed. Arya found out that Storm was the blond boy Lieve had danced with and they had met up more often. Lieve told them that she had kissed him and all the women giggled. After that they talked some more about boys and men and marriage.
“Arya how do Romans kiss?” She blushed furiously after a young woman called Freya asked her that.
“Uhm I don’t know.”
“You have never kissed before?” Freya asked full of surprise and while she shook her head, the other women laughed more and Arya couldn’t feel more embarrassed. They thought in their culture les about kissing, it was not immediately a promise or for love, but also for fun. Arya still found it hard to grasp and she knew Sansa must have been shocked if she would hear about it. But thinking about Sansa only made her said. No one ever had kissed Arya, because she was ugly. Her sister friend had called her horseface.
One of the women who was older put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it as reassurance, while she passed by and sat back on her own seat. “It doesn’t matter, that probably will change soon.”
Arya looked now at the woman with a raised eyebrow. Some of the women nodded at her statement and some looked with even more question as Arya. The woman explained, “The smith, the Roman, we all know how he looks at you and you can’t hide your visits to his place.”
Arya blushed, “It is not like that.” She muttered. But the girls around her were coaxing her in telling more details.
One of the other women agreed with the others, “He never came to feasts and the town square as much as he does now.”
The other girls talked a bit longer about it, one made the comment, “It must be his Roman blood.” Arya hid her anger at that, but she knew how Gendry thought about that. He would have been furious.
She couldn’t forget the comments of the women and she still thought about it when the hunters came back and two swine and four deer were presented. She still thought about it when the drinks were flowing, music sounded and people danced. She still thought about it when Gendry seated himself next to her and they listened to the music and looked at the dancing people.
“Let’s get out of here.” She said while looking at him. He nodded and gave her his hand. She took the lead and walked to his shed. He seemed to falter a bit when he noticed where they were going, but soon his strides were just as sure as before.
“Why did you want to go here Arya?” Her name in his voice sounded amazing. She looked around the smithy and smiled. This almost felt like home within in this strange village. The only place she was no outsider.
“You know why.” She didn’t know if he knew, but she wanted to sound confident and she looked at him and she was starting to doubt her actions. But then he came forward, a bit unsure but he also gave her that smile, he only smiled around her.
“I do?” he teased her and she nodded, her throat was closed, she couldn’t speak. He leant forward a bit more and she put her hands on his shoulders and then he engulfed her in an embrace and his lips were on her. The kiss was passionate and rough, like their language. She pulled her hands in his hair and she felt how his tongue moved between her lips, and oh that felt amazing. She felt prickling in her stomach and tingling through her body. She never felt better while sucking his tongue.
He picked her up and she threw her arms and legs around him. He kissed her neck and he pulled on her earlobe with his teeth. She gasped and then he walked them into the wall instead of his sleeping chambers. “Ouch.”
“I am sorry, I am sorry.”
She laughed then and looked in his eyes and then he started to laugh to. “You really will be sorry if you don’t go on with what you were doing.”
“As My Lady commands.” His voice in Latin was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard and she could even forgive him for calling her a Lady. She moaned when he started to nip her neck and soon he started to open her bodice.
She pulled on his shirt and pulled it off and started to kiss his shoulder and started to draw nothings on his back. Gendry had her bodice open and he started to kiss her breast and at the moment he pulled his mound on her nipple and he nips it with his teeth, she moans wantonly.
She had thought they would just kiss, but this was much better. And when her dress was off and he started to kiss and lick his way down her body and talks in Latin how beautiful she is, she thinks she can’t get feel any better.
Again he proves her wrong by putting his tongue on her vagina and he is licking and kissing and sucking. He then puts his tongue in the place where his penis is supposed to go, but it feels so good. And his nose is nudging her little nub. She puts her hands in his hair and her hips are moving on their own accord. She is lost to the feeling that Gendry is making her feel. He is now sucking on her nub and his teeth gaze her flesh and it feels so get and then she gets to the edge. The edge never het felt so good and her orgasm had never been as good as this.
The moment she lays relaxed under him and she gazed in his beautiful blue eyes and he is naked to and she feels is penis against her slit, she knows that this is it. This is how love is supposed to be and she doesn’t need marriage, or riches or a name. She just needs Gendry and his love. He kisses her sweetly and then they say it at the same time, she in Germanic and he in Latin, “I love you.”
They both started to laugh again and this moment between them was even better than her orgasm. Better than anything she had ever felt. She put her hand to his cheek and kissed him one more time and then they locked eyes and they never unlocked them, while she felt how the crown of his cock started to enter her. And it hurt and she cried out of pain, but smiled to and kissed him again. She could see how pained he was to hurt her, but they loved each other and it was okay. After he had filled her and he pulled out again and pushed in her again, she got used to the feeling. It was not amazing or great and it didn’t feel as good as his tongue as of yet. But it was Gendry and they would never get closer than this and he had told her that he had never coupled before. It was theirs and theirs only and he groaned her name and it never sounded better. After he spilled his seed he slumped down and fell on her, which made her turn them around. He pulled her to him and she felt how different their bodies were next to him. She was soft and he was hard and it felt perfect. He kissed her head and they gazed into each other’s eyes. She felt the tiredness come over her, but she never wanted to look at anything else but his love for her in his eyes. Eventually after they both fought sleep, they couldn’t resist. After they laughed at their silliness.
After that her life in the village became even better. She slept with Gendry and eventually moved everything to his shed. People were a bit weary of their arrangements, but the women giggled and said how they predicted that this would happen. Arya didn’t even care what others thought. She still helped with all the work, but now she was happy with Gendry. Her love for him would be forbidden in Trajectum. The Romans would never approve, but her homesickness got worse. She wished that her father would have approved of the man she loved, that she could have gossiped with Sansa and ask for advice from her mother.
But she also had never been more herself. People in Trajectum were fake, but Gendry was real and honest and trustworthy. She never wanted to leave to her old life again. Sometimes she wished for it, but then she saw Gendry or felt a feeling of love for her smith within.
It was three months of being together, being happy and making love.
It was the best three months of her life.
She had been sick for a few days, she vomited and Gendry took care of her between his work. She was laying in bed and the healer had just visited. She gave no answer but she had an idea. Gendry was worried and asked if it was life threatening.
“Don’t worry, it is nothing to dangerous. I will check on you tomorrow again.”
She felt something wasn’t right. She felt cold, Gendry was always warm next to her in bed. She woke up and felt how someone was carrying. She looked up at the face and then started struggling. That man was definitely not Gendry.
She looked at the bed, but a man had Gendry to the bed with a knife to his throat. “leave him alone!” She screamed in Latin, she knew they were Romans. She worried for the people of the village, not her people, but still people she cared for. “Leave him alone!” She screamed again and wiggled free, she wanted to run back to the bed, back to where Gendry was kept. But the man who had carried her took a hold of her arm.
“You will come with us My Lady, willingly or not.” The Latin sounded to soft and sweet.
The man who kept the knife to Gendry’s neck, was going to kill him she knew it. “I will come willingly, but please let him be.” Gendry was looking at her with wide eyes and pleading. It was the last time she saw him. She passed out and she never got to know if they did as she asked, if they did leave him unarmed.
They left the village without doing harm, that much she knew and she was grateful for at least that.
Her father had send men, some Germanic man had given them her location, for gold. He would have his riches and she lost her love. She was back within the walls of Trajectum, her family disappointed in her and being back home was hard. This had been better in the village or that.
Her father kept her guarded and her mother chastised her for running away. Sansa looked at her with disdain and people talked about the Roman girl and her wish for freedom as far as in Rome and Constantinople.
She never had to marry, no one would take a soiled girl, a mother without a high ranked man. She was the woman who willingly laid with a savage, a Germanic, who loved his child.
Ten years later her son was as big as his father, with beautiful black hair and blue eyes. His face was longer and he had her nose. He was honest and stubborn. People called him names by calling him Germanic or savage. Arya gave a smile by the irony, the sadness of losing her love never left her eyes. The moment she looked at the Rhenus she longed for the other side, but people would never let her. Arya would never understand the Romans and their wish to control people’s lives.